RAJOY AND HIS MASSIVE WATER CANNON

Well it seems Mariano Rajoy has sent his letter off to the Three Kings and they are going to get him a new toy: a massive water cannon. Just how they are going to get it down his chimney I have no idea.

The news was broken by Elena Valenciano is who the Vice Secretary General of PSOE, one of the MPs for Madrid and also the Vice President of PES. She reported: “Yesterday (Tuesday) we learned that the police are going to buy a truck equipped with a high-pressure water cannon to break up demonstrations. Known as jug, which has not been used in our country for more than 20 years, it will cost half a million euros and has a capacity of 7,000 litres of water to be mixed with colouring to mark the clothing of the protesters.”

Now why would Rajoy need a water cannon? Well it seems he told the Three Kings to "protect the free exercise of rights and freedoms and ensure public safety" and "in case of having to re-establish public order in the way least harmful as possible".  And so we witness Spain drift from being a full democracy to an authoritarian State.

The water cannon is all part of the paraphernalia of the PP’s new security laws aimed to keep Spaniards in check. The UN rates Spaniards as amongst the most obedient and well behaved in the world. Yet Rajoy insists he needs a massive water cannon and a draconian law to control them. He fools nobody.

So when this most tolerant of people take to the streets to protest at the handling of the economy, to demonstrate against people losing their homes, to voice their anger over the abusive banks and to rail at the corruption of the Partido Popular their Prime Minister has his answer. A new set of laws that has been condemned both in Spain and by international civil rights organisations plus his giant riot control water cannon. The silent majority will be made to remain silent.

Now if Rajoy treats his own people as if he was a dictator: as an all-powerful leader who demands they stay at home and do not use their democratic right of protest, if this is the way Spaniards are treated then his actions at our border with Gibraltar become much clearer.

Of course whilst Rajoy attacks Gibraltar, as we all know, it is the border town of La Línea and the Spaniards who cross to work who take the full brunt of his fascist actions. For Rajoy Gibraltarians may be a non-people but his fellow Spaniards are of no consequence either.

So in 2014 expect more harassment at the border, no doubt his water cannon will appear whenever Spaniards are brave enough to confront his security laws to protest and as for the people of Cataluña, God help them. I doubt if he will waste his water cannon on them when he has a squadron of armed tanks at his command.

A Happy New Year to us all!

SPANISH RIGHT AND WRONGS ON GIBRALTAR

It is the dogma of the majority of Spanish political parties that Gibraltar is an integral part of Spain and should be recovered. The mantra is “Gibraltar Español” and I have always presumed that those on the right of Spanish politics chant it louder than those on the left.

There are those in Gibraltar who welcomed a Partido Popular victory in the last elections because they take the view that you know with the centre right party where you are and you can expect the worst. Not only that but your expectations are likely to be met. The present PP administration certainly is proving the truth of that belief.

In contrast with PSOE you never know whether you are going to get the good cop, the bad cop or whether to an extent on Gibraltar relations they will cop out altogether.

I have held the view that if the centre right and far right could be eliminated from the Spanish political body matters for Gibraltar would change. It is my belief that it is because the parties of the right and principally the Partido Popular have enshrined “Gibraltar Español” on their hearts, minds and souls that all other parties in the political spectrum dare not but chant the mantra. Failure to do so would leave them open to accusations of betraying Spain.

In the 1980s Joe Bossano had talks with the PSOE of Felipe Gonzalez to see if the GSLP could obtain membership of Socialist International with their support. The fact is that if PSOE blocked the move the SI would not grant the GSLP membership. On the face of it this should have been a political matter with a small p. For a socialist party in Gibraltar to join the all embracing socialist movement worldwide should have not been a matter to meet with PSOE’s opposition. However it did as it would do today but the main reason given by Gonzalez to Bossano was that such a move would cost him valuable votes in an election.

Now would a PSOE supporter abandon the socialists and vote with another party because Gonzalez had not objected to the GSLP’s membership of SI? My guess is he or she would not. However if the centre right and right parties got hold of this information then they could blacken PSOE’s name with voters because they didn’t stop the GSLP becoming internationally recognised. That holds a lot of truth.

If you ask the average Spaniard do they believe Gibraltar is Spanish they would answer yes. Not because it is engraved on their hearts, minds and souls but simply because it is the common acceptance. However if you asked a Basque or a Catalan, first they couldn’t answer because they do not view themselves as being Spanish. Secondly they could hardly say yes because what they wish for their own regions is the independence from Spain that Gibraltar currently enjoys.

However the average Spaniard is not a politician. So whilst you will get the knee-jerk reaction to the Gibraltar question when you ask them what are the political priorities in their lives opinion polls have constantly shown that Gibraltar does not even feature. Jobs, the economy, housing score high: even ETA and terrorism scores low but way ahead of Gibraltar which does not register at all.

It is interesting that the present Partido Popular government in Madrid, whose priority is jobs, the economy and housing, has chosen to make Gibraltar a key plank in its foreign policy. However the PP totally fails to understand that for Spaniards the Rock of Gibraltar is simply not important. Hence we find the Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy being ridiculed in Spain and the wider world for demanding before the UN that Britain hands over Gibraltar.

His country is in economic meltdown, key parts of his country want out, the world is in recession, there are numerous wars, people are starving, Arabs are demanding the freedoms that we take for granted and all Rajoy can ask the gathered UN delegates and leaders is: “please can I have Gibraltar back?” He is like a spoilt child wanting a toy in the shop window which he simply can’t have.

The people of Spain by and large could not care what happens to Gibraltar. If the parties of the centre and the left wished to truly reflect their wishes, neither would they. However they are all caught in the sight of the weaving cobra’s head of the right and centre right and dare not turn away. If Spanish politicians on the centre and left had the courage to break that spell there would indeed be a new era in Spanish – Gibraltar relations to the benefit of both societies. Yet for now no mainstream Spanish politician dare but chant “Gibraltar Español”!

PICARDO AND THE PIRATES

I know that in his youth our Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, flirted with the music scene so might I suggest to him that the name ‘Picardo and the Pirates’ has a certain ring to it. Readers with long memories will remember the successful 50s and 60s group ‘Johnny Kidd and the Pirates’. There is no rule that says you cannot be a chief minister and a pop star.

When news broke of the confrontation in Sevilla, where the Chief Minister was speaking at a lunch forum and was presented with the pirate flag, my mind went immediately to music and Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘Pirates of Penzance’. The former British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, was a keen devotee of Gilbert and Sullivan. I interviewed him at length in 1981 for WQXR – the classical music station of the New York Times. After reviewing his lengthy political life we talked of comic opera and his particular liking for the Pirates. The 1879 musical was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic and is as popular now as then. Perhaps a performance could be arranged for Gibraltar’s Inces Hall.

Of course as a pirate Fabian Picardo is in good company. Sir Francis Drake is a national hero in Britain but is viewed as a notorious pirate in Spain. I guess you pay your pieces of eight and takes your choice.

In history pirates did operate out of Gibraltar but the real stronghold was further up the coast in Cádiz. To this day you can walk along the Callejón de las Piratas in Cádiz’s old town: they used to meet and trade their booty in the nearby Posada del Mesón in the calle Mesón.

No great surprise as the city and province was strategically placed to intercept vessels trading between Africa and the Americas and was a pirating hot spot especially in the 17 th and 18 th centuries. The corsair pirate ships used the Cádiz coast as a refuge and also as a centre for their operations.

Although we have a set image of the pirates of old those who operated out of Cádiz had a close relationship with Spanish aristocrats and senior members of the military. I guess the Partido Popular hierarchy and Guardia Civil of today!

The first famous pirate spoken of in Cádiz was Fernando de Sahandra who in the 15 th century made a healthy living by targeting Berber trading ships. He disregarded the protocols of his day and even sunk a Sevilla ship that was owned by the Reyes Católicos.

Around the same time Pedro Fernández Cabrón took advantage of the conflict between Ponce de León and the Guzmans to rob them both. Learning that Fernando de Aragón did not look kindly on his pirating activities he converted to extreme Christianity and was pardoned by the Reyes Católicos in 1478 because of his contribution to the faith.

Then the were the Galindes brothers, Pero and Diego, who with a crew including local fishermen assaulted a Breton vessel owned by John Ropel and bagged a valuable booty of 600,000 maravedíes, a unit of Spanish currency used up to the 19 th century. Ropel protested to the Marqués de Cádiz but as the nobleman wished to keep on the good side of the local people he told him in future to strengthen the defences of his ships and dismissed his complaint.

The next time our chief minister meets a Spaniard waving a pirate flag he can talk authoritatively of Cádiz’s Antón Bernalt, Jerónimo Marrufo and Jerónimo de Cubas who were deemed as legal pirates. They achieved this status because when they sent their corsairs to raid a wealthy merchant ship they had already agreed with the Spanish authorities what percentage would be paid over to the public coffers. How very Partido Popular!

GIBRALTAR: 15 WORDS

I was strap hanging on the London Underground last Thursday next to two young students who were deeply in love. I know this because between each segment of conversation they embraced and kissed passionately. It was annoying because the lad, when coming up for air, had mentioned Gibraltar.

It transpired that one of his tutors was a Spanish lady who also happened to be a surgeon, so obviously he was studying medicine. The subject of the Spanish General Election had come up in a chat and he asked how Gibraltar played in to all this. She was obviously rather taken back and said it didn’t, it wasn’t even an issue. La doctora was obviously surprised he should think it would be.

Now I have often written here in the past that whilst Gibraltar may be a hot topic in the Campo de Gibraltar in wider Spain it isn’t. Indeed it is mainly only an issue for Partido Popular politicians and right now they have more than enough on their plate without worrying about Gibraltar.

This was underscored on the same day when El País carried a major interview with Mariano Rajoy ahead of Sunday’s general election. The questions and answers spread over five pages and covered such headings as cuts and spending limits, the budget, street protests, Europe, reforms, tobacco – abortion – gays, ETA and the law, foreign affairs, Europe and various speeds of development, change, corruption and Valencia. Out of all of that how many words did Gibraltar get: 15.

Question: Gibraltar. Rajoy: Yo no voy a renunciar a lo que creo que es nuestro, como es natural.

As widely predicted Rajoy will be the new prime minister of Spain. In his interview he did talk a lot about Cameron because both are now Conservative prime ministers. He discussed Cameron over a fifth of a page but never once mentioned Gibraltar.

He said he had not spoken to Cameron directly recently as Britain is not in the euro but stressed that the Spanish and UK governments were in contact continuously. Anyway Rajoy certainly doesn’t speak English, I am not sure if Cameron speaks Spanish but he does have languages other than his native tongue.

Apparently last October the media had carried interviews with Rajoy where he had praised the policies of Cameron since becoming British prime minister although he added some of what he said had been used against him in Spain. He added he spoke of Cameron not slashing spending on the health service or education and had ruled out tax rises all of which he strongly approved of – perhaps Britons would argue on those points.

However both Cameron on taking office and now Rajoy find their countries in an economic mess. He supported the British premier’s intention to slash the deficit and says that is what he will do in Spain. Rajoy pointed out that these problems were shared by the major European countries but being a politician added that the previous PSOE government had made matters worse.

Last October Rajoy was quoted in an interview saying: “Yo haría algo similar a lo de Cameron en España.” He stresses he isn’t going to cut education, the health service or raise taxes but criticises Cameron for cutting social welfare. Rajoy is going to continue with investment as that is necessary, he says, for Spain to improve pensions, education and its health service. But Gibraltar – just 15 words!

PP SET TO RULE ANDALUCÍA

It was British premier Harold Wilson who coined the phrase a week is a long time in politics so it is a dangerous game trying to foretell what will be the situation in a year or 15 months time.

First we have a general election to face in Gibraltar. By this time next year Peter Caruana could have been elected for his fifth term, there may be a new GSD name at the helm, Fabian Picardo may have stormed home for the GSLP Liberal coalition or will it be another candidate yet to come forward?

Whoever is chief minister at the close of next year he (or she) will have just a few months in office before there are two major elections across the border in Spain. In March 2012 there will be a Spanish general election and another in Andalucía. Whilst Gibraltar has face the Partido Popular in government in Madrid the regional government in Sevilla has always been PSOE. Indeed Andalucía has always been considered to be a socialist fiefdom.

Yet that could be about to change. An opinion poll by IESA puts the Partido Popular under Javier Arenas on 46.8 per cent with PSOE trailing on 37.7. The far left IULV-CA takes 8.2 per cent, the Partido Andalucista 2.9 and the UPyD on 1.7 per cent.

Now if a week is a long time in politics then 15 months is an eternity but a 9.1 per cent lead takes some making up and the omens are not good as PSOE has lost 11.2 per cent of its support since the last Andalucía elections. Indeed if these figures held then the PP would rule the region with an absolute majority.

Despite the assurance of the chief minister Peter Caruana that he can deal with the PP the omens are not good. The PP nationally has been breathing fire on both Gibraltar and Morocco but it is arguable that the future Rajoy administration in Madrid will have many issues on its hands other than the Rock.

However the PP in Sevilla control the region up to the Gibraltar border and despite Caruana’s assurances he can work with the centre right party the evidence from La Línea’s mayor Alejandro Sánchez and the candidate for mayor in Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce – who is also a PP MP is not good. Indeed there is no evidence of the chief minister bonding or having a working relationship with either.

Of course in the past Gibraltar has faced down Franco so there is little that the PP can throw at the Rock that it cannot handle. However with the “friendly” socialists in power in Madrid and Sevilla since 2004 the going has been rough and it could be a whole lot rougher if the PP takes PSOE’s place.

THE MYSTERY OVER CARUANA’S PP TALKS

Recently Gibraltar’s chief minister, Peter Caruana, made two statements relating to talks with Spain and the future status of the Rock. The first was to law students in Algeciras where he mentioned that in 2004, before the fall of the Aznar government, he had been close to an accord for bi-lateral talks with the Partido Popular in Spain. The second and more recent statement was on the Andorra option in Sevilla.

Now it is the latter which has dominated the headlines and political comment ever since. I believe Caruana has every right to consider what an Andorra option could deliver for Gibraltar in the future. Where I would take issue with him is that the first time Gibraltarians heard about it was via the media because he’d spoken to an audience in Spain rather than his fellow countrymen. Also as it was the chief minister who raised that option many would consider he was speaking on behalf of the Rock. He wasn’t but it didn’t stop some Spanish politicians from saying the door should not be closed on such a solution. The problem here is of course that whether the door is open or shut it is not acceptable to the vast majority of Gibraltarians.

What I find more interesting though is the first of the chief minister’s statements on his accord with the PP. My reasoning is simple for whilst the Andorra option is a snowball that can happily exist in the Pyrenees it wouldn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell in the Med bathed Rock. However it would only be a fool who would write off Caruana’s chances of re-election next year and hence he could well be talking to a PP government again in Madrid in 2012.

Let us go back to November 2002 when the chief minister held a referendum to reject proposals by the British and Spanish governments for power sharing. After the referendum relations with London and Madrid were at an all time low. Yet Caruana insists his Government came very close to establishing a process of bilateral discussions with a PP government going so far as setting out an agenda, dates and agreeing a European city to meet in, before Aznar’s administration collapsed.

Given the referendum was held in November 2002 and the Spanish general election was in March 2004 these talks must have been held in the 14 or so months between Gibraltarians delivering a black eye to Madrid and the elections. Also as far as I am aware the people of Gibraltar were never told of any such talks and nor has the chief minister offered any explanation since.

Now the British Foreign Secretary who tried to force through the joint sovereignty agreement for his lord and master Tony Blair was Jack Straw. So I asked him what he knew of the chief minister’s PP accord, surely London had been kept informed. His office told me that “it was eight years ago” and so presumably he couldn’t remember. Given the circumstances involving British – Gibraltarian – Spanish relations at that time you might find it surprising that the British Foreign Secretary cannot remember if Caruana was about to sign an accord with the government in Madrid. Yet let us not forget that Jack Straw is also the man who shook Robert Mugabe’s hand by mistake at the UN so all things are possible.

So I spoke to a contact in Madrid who walks the corridors of power and who has access to the foreign ministry. He told me: “I know of the declarations of Caruana but I cannot confirm or deny whether they are true. I do not think there is any document proving it.”

Curious because the discussions were with the Spanish government of the day and not the Partido Popular as a party so ministerial records should exist about any such talks – especially as the outcome was so far advanced. It also sounds to me as somebody has been searching the files in Madrid to find out - hence the comment “I do not think there is any document proving it.”

I am sure the talks took place. I am sure an accord was reached. Given that the chief minister and the PP’s Mariano Rajoy could be talking again soon about Gibraltar it would be interesting to know what was discussed then – as it may tell us what is on the table in the future.